Tiki
|
|
Hei_tiki.jpg
In Polynesian mythology (specifically: Maori), Tiki is the first man, created by either Tu Matauenga or Tane. He found the first woman, Marikoriko, in a pond. She seduced him and he became the father of Hine-Kau-Ataata.
Also in Polynesian mythology, a tiki or hei tiki is a kind of sculpture which results in a carving in the shape of a god. Each tiki houses a spirit. The creation of tikis is known from all over Polynesia. Among the Maori of New Zealand, the women wear phallic talismans around their necks to protect from infertility.
| Contents |
The Theory of Tiki
The Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl theorized in 1947 that Tiki was the prehistoric chieftain who supposedly led a fair-skinned civilized people across the Pacific 1,500 years ago, colonizing the Polynesian islands.
According to Incan legend, there was a sun-god named Virakocha who was the supreme head of the mythical white people in Peru. The original name for Virakocha was Kon-Tiki or Illa-Tiki, which means Sun-Tiki or Fire-Tiki. Kon-Tiki was high priest and sun-king of these legendary "white men" who had left enormous ruins on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The legend continues with the mysterious bearded white men being attacked by a chief named Cari who came from the Coquimbo Valley. They had a battle on an island in Lake Titicaca, and the fair race was massacred. However, Kon-Tiki and his closest companions managed to escape and later arrived on the Pacific coast. The legend ends with Kon-Tiki and his companions disappearing westward oversea.
When the Spaniards came to Peru, the Incas told them that the colossal monuments that stood deserted about the landscape were erected by a race of white gods who had lived there before the Incas themselves became rulers. The Incas described these "white gods" as wise, peaceful instructors who had originally come from the north in the "morning of time" and taught the Incas' primitive forefathers architecture as well as manners and customs. They were unlike other Native Americans in that they had "white skins and long beards" and were taller than the Incas. They also had Semitic facial features. The Incas said that the "white gods" had then left as suddenly as they had come and fled westward across the Pacific. After they had left, the Incas themselves took over power in the country.
The people of Polynesia claim that they are descended from a white chief-god named Tiki who is the son of the sun, that he is the original founder of their race. The natives of the Pacific islands also have historic legends regarding Tiki's life in Peru that are identical to those of the Inca's Virakocha and contain details of the ancient names of places around Lake Titicaca. They also say that before, they lived in a big country beyond the sea.
When the Europeans first came to the Pacific islands, they were astonished that they found many of the natives to have almost white skins and beards. There were whole families that had pale skin, hair varying in color from reddish to blonde, and almost Semitic, hook-nosed faces. In contrast, most of the Polynesians had golden-brown skin, raven-black hair, and rather flat, pulpy noses. The red-haired natives called themselves urukehu and claimed that they were directly descended from the first chiefs on the islands—the "white gods" such as Tangaroa, Kane, and Tiki. When Roggeveen first discovered Easter Island in 1722, he noticed that many of the natives were white-skinned. They could count their ancestors who were white-skinned right back to the time of Tiki and Hotu Matua, when they first came sailing across the sea "from a mountainous land in the east which was scorched by the sun."
Heyerdahl proposed that Tiki's Stone Age people colonized the then-uninhabited Polynesian islands as far north as Hawaii, as far south as New Zealand, as far east as Easter Island, and as far west as Samoa around A.D. 500. They supposedly sailed from Peru to the Polynesian islands on pae-paes—large rafts built from balsa logs, complete with sails and each with a small cottage. They built enormous stone statues carved in the image of human beings on Pitcairn, the Marquesas, and Easter Island that exactly resembled those in Peru. They also built huge pyramids on Tahiti and Samoa with steps like those in Peru. But all over Polynesia, Heyerdahl found indications that Tiki's peaceable race had not been able to hold the islands alone for long. He found evidence that suggested that seagoing war canoes as large as Viking ships and lashed together two and two had brought Stone Age Northwest American Indians to Polynesia around A.D. 1100, and they mingled with Tiki's people. Genetic research has found that modern-day Polynesians, however, are more closely related to Southeast Asians than to American Indians.
In 1947, a team of five Norwegian scientists led by Heyerdahl built their own pae-pae, christened Kon-Tiki, and sailed it from Peru to the Polynesian island of Tahiti in order to prove that Tiki and his people were capable of performing such a feat.
Tiki culture in the US
Tiki culture in America began in 1934, when a man by the name of Don Beach, a.k.a. Don the Beachcomber, opened a Polynesian-themed eatery in Hollywood that was part tap house, part funhouse. There, guests could enjoy tropical Asian cuisine and exotic rum punches while surrounded by flaming torches, rattan furniture, flower leis and brightly colored fabrics. More than a decade later, a fellow named Victor Bergeron, better known as Trader Vic, adapted Don's formula for success and opened his own chain of tropical taverns, including locations in Atlanta, San Francisco and Beverly Hills.
Around this time, the soldiers were returning home from World War II, bringing with them stories and souvenirs from the South Pacific. Americans fell in love with their romanticized version of an exotic culture, and Polynesian design began to infuse every aspect of the country's visual aesthetic, from home accessories to architecture. Soon came integration of the idea into music by artists like Les Baxter, Arthur Lyman, and Martin Denny, who blended the Tiki idea through jazz augmented with Polynesian, Asian and Latin instruments and "tropical" themes creating the Exotica genre. This music blended the elements of Afro-Cuban rhythms, unusual instrumentations, environmental sounds, and lush romantic themes from Hollywood movies, topped off with evocative titles like "Jaguar God", into a cultural hybrid native to no place outside the San Fernando Valley.
There were two primary strains of this kind of exotica: Jungle and Tiki. Jungle exotica was definitely a Hollywood creation, with its roots in Tarzan movies and further back, to William Henry Hudson's novel Green Mansions. Les Baxter was the king of jungle exotica, and spawned a host of imitators while opening the doors for a few more genuine articles such as Chaino, Thurston Knudson, and Guy Warren. Tiki exotica was introduced with Martin Denny's Waikiki nightclub combo cum jungle noises cover of Baxter's Quiet Village. Tiki rode a wave of popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s marked by the entrance of Hawaii as the 50th state in 1959 and the introduction of Tiki hut cocktail bars and restaurants around the continental United States. Tiki exotica is now enjoying a resurgence in popularity, and Tiki mugs and torches that once collected dust in thrift stores are now hot items.
- See also: Enchanted Tiki Room
References
- Sven A. Kirsten: The Book of Tiki. Taschen 2003, ISBN 3-8228-2433-X. Book Homepage (http://bookoftiki.com)
- Duke Carter: Tiki Quest. Pegboard Press (August, 2003), ISBN 0-9743283-0-8.Book Homepage (http://www.pegboardchicago.com/TCintro.html)
- James Teitelbaum: Tiki Road Trip. Santa Monica Press (May 1, 2003), ISBN 1891661302. Book Homepage (http://www.tikiroadtrip.com)
- Otto Von Stroheim, Robert Williams: Tiki Art Now! A Volcanic Eruption of Art. Last Gasp (November 10, 2004), ISBN 0867196270. Book Homepage (http://www.lastgasp.com/d/24153/)
External links
- Tiki News (http://www.tikinews.com)
- Kona Kai! your guide to Everything Tiki on the Web (http://www.konakai.com)
- Tiki Central Forums, a place to discuss all that is Tiki (http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/)
- Critiki, the Worldwide Guide to Tiki Bars & Polynesian Restaurants (http://64.81.235.211/cgi-bin/index.cgi)
- Tikiroom.net's Tiki Mugs & more Gallery (http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/index.php)de:Tiki